BGB Fantasy League 2018: Week 19

With three weeks of the regular season remaining, one team has secured their place in the playoffs. Find out which manager can start looking forward to September after Week 19 of the BaseballGB Fantasy League.

The Slugs were the biggest winners of the week, defeating the Maltsters 11-0. Acuna Jr had a monster week, powering an offensive sweep with 11 runs, four homers, nine RBIs three steals, a .464 average and an OPS over 1500. Lester picked up a win without allowing an earned run and posting sub-1.00 WHIP stats while Heaney struck out 11 and Leclerc collected four saves. Holds from McHugh and Miller spared the Maltsters from a whitewash.

Norwich stay top of the standings and secured their playoff place with an 11-1 thumping of Batteries Essential. Five Norwich batters hit a pair of homers, including Castellanos, who also led the team with eight runs and 10 RBIs. Story swiped two bases. In a pitching sweep, Flaherty picked up a win without allowing an earned run and Buehler struck out eight and helped take WHIP. Smith had two saves while Ottavino picked up a pair of holds.

Batteries Essential, with a roster decimated by injuries and no effort made to replace the inactive players, took average thanks to Ramos batting .412. They just crept over the 20 inning minimum limit by 0.1 innings but may not manage to do so next week without some work to the roster.

The Knights continue their strong form with a 9-2 win against Beckenham that leaves them third in the standings. Jose Ramirez scored and knocked in seven to go with his three homers while Calhoun batted .357 for the week and Hicks swiped two bases in an offensive sweep. Norris had a pair of saves while Buchholz helped take ERA and WHIP. Beckenham had wins from six different pitchers, including Mikolas who struck out 11.

The Isotopes stay second after an 8-3 win against the RBIs. Upton (.360) and Realmuto (.320, seven RBIs) each homered twice and scored four runs as the hitters fell a steal shy of an offensive sweep. Dominguez collected two saves while Arrieta made the difference in ERA and WHIP. Severino struck out 14 for the RBIs while Clevinger won twice and Romo and Watson had a hold each.

The Sox caused an upset by defeating the Riverkings 7-5. Gattis and Andujar each hit three homers, with Miggy also knocking in nine. Adam Jones helped take OPS. With the only Sox relievers both on the DL, it was up to the starters to carry the load. DeGrom and Happ each won twice with Jacob striking out 21. Combined with Kershaw and Cole, no pitcher had an ERA above 1.50 or a WHIP higher than 1.05.

The Riverkings will feel hard done by to lose having posted such good ERA and WHIP stats, but at least Boxberger and Edwards Jr took care of saves and holds. Merrifield scored four runs and stole two bases while batting .429, teaming with Jose Martinez (.474) and Choo (.533) to take average.

Finally, the Bombers and Chasers ended in a 6-6 tie. Bath had the better of the offense as Ozuna homered twice and Chirinos knocked in seven. Moustakas (.500) and Bogaerts (.400) helped take average and OPS. A skeleton pitching staff took ERA and WHIP thanks to Foltynewicz. Goldschmidt scored five runs for the Chasers and Cain stole two bases while Nola was among five pitchers with a win and Taillon struck out 12. Brach and Stammen had a hold each while Treinen picked up a pair of saves.

Norwich are the first team to secure a playoff place with just 1.5 games separating the Chasers and RBIs for the final postseason spot. There are just three week of the regular season remaining.

The Week 20 matchups are as follows:

Isotopes (2nd) v Bombers (11th)

Batteries (12th) v RBI’s (9th)

Beckenham (7th) v Norwich No II (1st)

Maltsters (6th) v Knights (3rd)

Riverkings (4th) v Slugs (5th)

Chasers (8th) v Super-Sox (10th)

About Mark George

Mark has been following baseball since a family holiday to California in 1996 included a trip to Dodger Stadium. A die-hard Dodger fan (yes, they do exist), Mark is a committed fantasy baseball manager and, much like Seinfeld's George Costanza, REALLY wants to be the GM of an MLB team. Mark played in the UK for Croydon Pirates III for seven years. Follow him on Twitter @MarkGeorge43